How to pick the right partner for your game promotion (traffic types)

Choosing the right partners for your game promotion can be a headache. There’s a variety of traffic types: influencers, bloggers, and business-oriented websites like price comparison sites, promo code aggregators, or media buyers. Working with them through affiliate marketing gives you the opportunity to attract various users at different funnel stages. How can you leverage this to your advantage, and what are the pros and cons of working with each type? Find out below.

Review sites and news feeds

In this type, you work with bloggers who post information about gaming. This can come in various forms: reviews, latest gadgets, news, walkthroughs, etc. Working with such publishers can be beneficial not only for gaming titles but also for e-commerce shops offering items related to games. These publishers often create rankings or make recommendations.

They like to cooperate with affiliate networks since it’s simple to include an ad with a link to the content or even create website banners. While promoting games with content sites, remember to provide them with marketing materials to keep your branding consistent and ensure that many publishers participate in your campaign.

Make sure to ask about additional promotion opportunities. These publishers not only offer additional banners but also sometimes have email marketing pricing available.

Game showcases and price comparisons

Gaming aggregators, price comparisons, and cashback services are also focused on building communities around their websites. Here, the audience changes. On the mentioned traffic types, you’re most likely to sell to people looking for bargains, discounts, and cashback. While advertising to them, consider higher discounts for the closed communities, but the return rates from such investments are much quicker. This is because most people looking for discounts are already invested in the product; they just need a final push.

Additionally, cooperation like this increases the SEO visibility of your brand. Considering these types of publishers put time and effort into making their websites stand out, it’s something to remember.

Social media influencers 

Gaming works especially well with video content. Whether it’s a YouTube gameplay, a TikTok video, or a Twitch stream, you should give it a try. These content creators have been gathering their viewership over the years, so their followers will definitely check out what the influencer promotes. It is important to approach these cooperations in a performance-based way to understand which partners provide the most value.

Social media can also be useful from another angle. Think of gaming communities on social media. They may be dedicated to a specific game, the gaming industry, or entertainment in general. For game promotion in places like this, remember that a large chunk of the audience in these communities uses mobile devices.

Media buyers  

Never underestimate this type of traffic. Some clients refuse to cooperate with media buyers within affiliate marketing due to unknown sources of the traffic, but by working with them, your campaign can scale much faster. Some work within browsers, while others focus on social media. In the process of setting up the campaign, clarify to your account manager which types of traffic you accept and which you don’t. Don’t be afraid to work with media buyers while running your own paid social campaigns. It can all be arranged without the necessary hassle and overspending, for example by providing a forbidden keyword list.

Loyalty programs and email marketers

This traffic type involves publishing affiliate links on a site with a bonus program. When users follow a link and complete a target action, they receive points through the loyalty program. These points can be used to pay for goods or services from the site that runs the loyalty program or for purchases in other stores. We all know gamification can quite fast turn into profit. It positively impacts user engagement and retention, as customers are incentivized to return and earn more points. 

Email marketing campaigns work on similarly engaged audiences. The readers open the email because they like to be informed about new promotions, and updates, or get exclusive offers. Integrating email marketing campaigns into your affiliate campaign can enhance your efforts, providing new users coming to your game fast.

Choosing the right partners for your game promotion involves understanding the different types of traffic available and how each can benefit your campaign. Whether it’s through review sites, game showcases, social media influencers, media buyers, or loyalty programs and email marketing, each offers unique advantages and challenges. Carefully selecting these partners can mean you rely on someone else’s expertise. Whatever you choose remember testing out is sometimes the only way to know something for sure.